Maxamillion's not so Great Adventure
by jojobuster
Summary: The story of a very unlucky chicken named Maxamillion, Desperate to survive in a world of chicken eating creatures.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Maxamillion was everything you would want a hero to be. Brave, kind, and there to help in a jam. Except there was one thing that you wouldn't think would belong in a hero. Max was a chicken. A small, kind of plump little bird. Not the kind of hero you were probably thinking of. He wasn't even a stylish rooster. He was just plain white except his yellow toes and beak, and red wattle and comb. He had big white tail feathers and little white wings, but that was it. So he wasn't considered very much of a hero in the chicken coop, especially since the other rooster, Roger, was a beautiful mix of brown and red, with huge green tail feathers. All the hens went after Roger, and Max was always left in the dust.

Now, there was a rule in the chicken coop made by the farmer. No more than two roosters in his property. And if there were more than two, well, the farmer would have a chicken dinner. Max was sitting on the top of the chicken coop, watching the sunrise. He practiced a few cock-a-doodles, when he heard a teasing voice. "Hey, bud," It said. Max turned around to see Roger standing there, big and intimidating. Max stood up and looked Roger square in the eye and said "What do you want with me, Roger?" Roger laughed and said "Just wanted to let you know that Henrietta's eggs hatched, and one of them is a boy. Max gasped. The whole farm favored Roger more than him, and if the farmer had to eat one of them his obvious choice would be Max. "Anyways," Roger continued. "Thought I might warn you that your days are numbered." With that Roger pushed Max of the edge of the roof, and sang his loud cock-a-doodle-doos. Max picked himself and brushed himself off, beginning to get worried. The farmer would be up soon, and that would be the end of Max. He shivered as he looked at the ax laying on the tree stump a little ways away. There was no easy way out of the pen the farmer had built for the chickens. The wire was way to tall to jump over, and it was obvious he couldn't fly over it. Digging would take to long, and that would have been his only option. He was pacing back and forth, racing through every corner of his brain, trying to think of how he could escape. He could try to hide under the straw in the nest boxes inside the coop, but as soon as he thought of that idea he was sure it wouldn't work. Max wasn't the skinniest chicken, actually he was quite a fatty, so he knew that if the farmer would look in the chicken coop for him he would see a large bump under the straw in one of the nest boxes, and know it was Max. Then he had another idea. He looked up and saw that the roof of the chicken coop was slightly taller than the wire fence. Maybe if he jumped off the top of the chicken coop he could jump from the roof over the fence! So Max climbed up the side of the chicken coop to it's roof. He walked to the edge closest to the fence, took a deep breath, and jumped.

It was working! Max sailed toward the fence, with full confidence that his plan would work. Until he began to drop. Max had over-looked one thing in his plan, and that was his weight. He was very heavy, and gravity was working fast on him. But he was so close to escaping! He pleaded silently that this wasn't happening, but it was. And faliure taunted him. He was so close to passing the fence that his feathers brushed against it. But he continued to fall. He was going pretty fast when he landed with a loud THUD! It almost knocked him unconscious. When he stood up he felt a terrible pain in his left leg. It didn't look like it was broken or sprained, but it hurt a lot. He was limping towards the coop when he heard the farmhouse door slam. He froze in his tracks, and gulped. He was too late. The farmer was up. The farmer came straight down toward the chickens' little pen. Max panicked and wobbled behind the chicken coop, back pressed against it, breathing hard. He heard the gate open and the sprinkling of the chicken feed. Then he heard the farmer's voice. "Here Maxamillion! Come here you little rooster you! I've got a surprise for you!" _Yeah, a very deadly surprise,_ Max thought. The farmer rounded the chicken coop just as max started going around. He broke into a run, forgetting about his leg. Which was a bad thing. Because while he was running, the pain got so strong that his leg collapsed, and he went down with it. "Come here, little guy!" the farmer said as he approche the terrified chicken. He grabbed Max by the neck, opened the gate, and headed toward the ax laying on the stump. It seemed as if the farmer was laughing at Max, trembling in the his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The farmer walked up to the ax, picked it up and held Max down on the stump. "By the looks of your belly, Max, there will be lots of leftovers to last us a while!" Max wiggled and shaked and flapped his wings, but it was no use. The farmer held the ax high, and as he brought it down toward Max his grip on the chicken's body loosened, and That was all Max needed. He shot out from the farmer's hand, and tumbled down the hill. As he ran toward the forest border behind the chicken coop, he heard the barking of dogs. He panicked, for dogs were a lot faster than he could ever be. He continued toward the forest, every now and then falling because of his bad leg and slowing down. The dogs were fast, though. Oh, they were fast. Soon they were nipping at his heels. One leaped toward his target and hit Max's good leg, knocking him down. He rolled even faster than he had moved when he walked. Then he came to the bottom of the hill and rolled to a stop, Feeling very dizzy, he looked for the dogs. They were halfway down the hill, and getting closer and closer. The chicken got up and started too run again, but because he was so dizzy he began to veer of to the left, then over to the right. Just when he thought he was doomed, he started to fly! He had been snatched up by an eagle! The eagle was flying over the forest, toward a nest up high in a tree. The eagle dropped Max in it, then flying away to find more food. Max stared over the edge and gulped. It was a long way down. He could just imagine himself laying on the forest floor with every bone in his body broken. There must have been eagle chicks in the nest because something small and fuzzy bumped into him and he began to lose his balance. He leaned back and forth on the edge, till another chick bumped into him and knocked him over. He tumbled down through the leaves with closed eyes as he flailed and cawed very loudly. He cawed so loud he didn't realize that he had stopped. He was spread out among several small branches. When Max opened his eyes, he lifted a wing to wipe the sweat off his head. Just as he lifted that wing, he fell a few more feet and hit the ground. The good news was that the branches had slowed his fall. The bad news was he had landed in front of a starving fox. He looked at the fox. The fox looked at him. Max said "What, never seen dinner fall from the sky?" then he ran for all he was worth. The fox watched in confusion as the dinner from the sky suddenly ran off. Then he chased after Max.

The fox was very fast, being driven by starvation. Poor Max wasn't very fast though, because of all the corn he gobbled down every morning. So the fox quickly caught up to Max. He began to circle the tired chicken. Slowly his circles got smaller and smaller till every time he circled around he would brush against Max's back. And then the fox leaped for his throat. Max fell flat on his back and watched as the fox flew over him. Then he leaped to his feet and ran for the nearby tree. It had plenty of branches that he could grab. So up the tree he went, safely out of danger's path. The fox, however, didn't give up. He sat at the bottom of the tree, waiting for the chicken dinner to fall out of the sky like it had before. This frustrated Max because there were plenty of birds of prey returning to their nests as the evening approached. He suddenly realized how quickly time had passed. He was tired. He turned his attention back to the fox, who was starting to get impatient. Suddenly a rabit ran by, and the fox decided not to waste his time on a dinner stuck in a tree. He raced off after the rabbit. When Max was sure that the fox was gone, He climbed down the tree to a few feet above the ground, then he dropped into a pile of leaves at the base of the tree. Man, he was tired. And hungry. But, knowing he needed to lay off eating for a little while, he made himself comfortable in the leaves and fell asleep. He did not see the dark figures approach him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Max woke up feeling itchy and uncomfortable. He opened his eyes to see the inside of a gunnysack. Great, he thought, probably the coyote's work. He wondered if this was the end, if today was the last day he would breathe, if these were his last breaths. As he thought about this, the gunnysack opened. Glaring down at him was the evil face of the coyote. "Great," said the coyote. "You're up. We're hungry." Max was taken out and thrown onto the coyote's den floor. It was a much bigger den than he thought it would be. He was led through some tunnels toward a door. Through the door was the pack leader. The leader said with a sly grin, "Ah, good. The dinner is not terribly injured yet. Sorry, but we can't let you see any more of our den. Don't want you to escape." "I'm not afraid of you," said Max. "I will escape whether you let me see the passages or not. I want to live, and I will fulfill my wish." "Ah, we're getting a little brave, are we?" Said the coyote pack leader. With that he grabbed a frying pan from the ground, and swung it at Max. Max flew across the room into the wall, and fell unconscious.

Max came to with a terrible headache. He was tied tightly to a conveyor belt. A long way ahead there was a strange machine. The pack leader stood by, with a bunch of his pack mebers drooling next to him. "Well," said the leader. "What do you think of my machine? Don't worry, it won't kill you. I want you to be living when you are boiling in the water and feeling our teeth rip you apart. This is just a torture machine." He laughed and stepped on a red button. Max began to move. "I'll make it out of this den, coyote. Not you, this torture machine, or anything else can stop me." Max said as he entered the machine. Two robot arms with claws on the end grabbed him and placed him on a nearby table. They ripped off every feather very fast, and Max's body tingled with pain. He tryed to kick the arms, but he realize his feet were also tied together. The last feathers were ripped off, and then the arms put him back onto the machine. he slowly came to a second station where a knife moved up and down. Max watched with horror as the knife flew down and chopped off his feet! The agony! Blood gushed out of the stubs where his feet had once been. Max cried out in pain, and began to sob. he couldn't help it, the tears just came to him. From far off he could here the coyotes laughing. He stopped crying, he figured he would need his breath later. He was right. As he moved along, a huge hammer nearly squished him flat. Then a small needle slashed at him. Several small cuts appeared all over his featherless body. A cloth appeared and wiped away the blood, and a medicine was injected into his leg that stopped the bleeding. Then a frying pan lowered from the ceiling of the machine, and started flying toward the chicken Max braced himself, and was knocked unconscious.

When Max opened his eyes he was aching all over and very hot. He looked down and saw a pot over a blazing fire. He was hanging by the stubby ends of his legs over the pot. And holding onto his legs was the pack leader. There was no one else in the room. The leader spoke. "I have been waiting for you to wake up", he said. "It took you much longer to wake up this time and I thought for sure that you were dead this time. Oh well," he continued. "You'll be dead soon enough." Suddenly Maxamillion felt himself slowly slipping out of the coyote's grip. He waited painfully as he was lowered toward the boiling pot. Max noticed that his legs had slipped almost all the way out of the coyote's paw. An idea popped into his head. It was risky, but wht did he have to lose? He swung himself forward, and suddenly he slipped free! He flew past the pack leader and the pot. He landed on the floor with a thud, and it knocked all the air out of him. But he quickly started dragging himself toward a large hole he had noticed earlier. The pack leader saw Max and laughed. He slowly walked toward him, grinning evilly. But Max wouldn't give up. He had made it this far and he was so desperate to live. He could hear his heart beating and listened to its rhythm. He realized he wanted to hear that rhythm forever and ever. He was almost to the crack! Only a few more pushes and wiggles! Yes! He was there! But now he had a new dilemma. The hole had looked larger from farther away, but now, it looked smaller! Never the less, Max tried to squeeze through. He got his head through, his chest, his wings, but his belly was to big! He struggled and struggled, trying to free himself, but he was just too big! Something brushed and scrapped against his legs, and that was all that he needed. He squeezed through the crack, and landed outside the den. He saw bushes, and, thinking that to be his only way to escape, he wiggled and pulled himself toward them. But he was too slow. Out of the den leaped the pack leader and he walked up behind Max. He laughed and followed Max to the bushes. Just as Max's wings touched the shrubbery, the pack leader stepped on him. Max struggled and pulled with all his might, but it was no use. "You'll never get away with this," he said, trying not to cry" I will survive!" "Well," Said the pack leader, pretending not to hear. "Trying to escape, are we? Well, I'm hungry, and a chicken dinner sounds delicious right about now. So, little chicken, let's go back to the pot of boiling water now. Don't worry; this will only hurt a lot!" Then the leader picked Max up and took him back to the pot. He walked up to it, and dropped Max inside. Max tried to swim to the surface of the pot but it was too hard. Without his feathers to help him float or his legs to help him kick and his fat belly weighing him down, he found it very hard to swim up. The edges of his vision were beginning to turn red. And the water was so hot! He saw with the little bit of consciousness that had left as his skin turned darker by the minute. He was about to give up when he thought about his heart. He stopped moving and heard it slowing down. No! He thought, looking around wildly. I must get to air! Then he heard loud splashes and saw some vegetables fall past him. They hit the bottom of the pot, and slowly started floating up. He quickly grabbed onto a carrot and just as he was about to fall unconscious he floated to the surface. Air! He gulped big breaths and held onto the carrot as tightly as he could. But the water was so hot. He began to feel sleepy, and his wings started slipping off the carrot. He slipped back into the boiling water and almost fell asleep. But then something reached in and scooped him out. It was a large spoon. Max came out of the water and was placed on another conveyor belt that led to another machine. He wasn't even tied up, and max had a new hope of escaping whatever torture was in this machine. But then he realize why he wasn't tied up. He was too sleepy to move. Also, the medicine from the previous machine was making it almost impossible to even keep his eyes open. The pack leader stood by, watching with an evil grin as Max entered the machine, where hot oils were poured over his body. Then two robot arms grabbed his beak and held it open while a third arm filled him with stuffing till his stomach was twice the size it had been before. He would have stopped them but he could barely lift his wing. As he continued down the machine, His stubby, featherless wings were placed over his chest. He soon came the seasonings. Salt and pepper were shaken onto his very fat self. At the end of the conveyor belt was an apple. One of the robot arms shoved it into his mouth. By this time Max looked almost exactly like what he would have looked like if the farmer had gotten a hold of him. Only his head looked the same. The rest of him was a yummy looking chicken dinner. His body was a dark brown and so greasy and shiny that he could see his own reflection on his chest. He was almost completely featherless, except his head. His feet were no longer there. Instead there were uneven stumps. He came out the end of the machine where he was picked up by the pack leader and placed on a silver platter in the middle of a long table. The veggies that had been in the pot were now placed neatly around him. Several other plates with other types of meat were placed along the table. A coyote came up to Max and shoved a lot of extra stuffing down his throat. He was beginning to feel energy entering his body again, but it was too late. Coyotes were already sitting around the table he was on, drooling greedily. Max wanted to close his eyes, so he couldn't see any more. But he just felt like he needed to keep his eyes open, to know what was going on around him. All the coyotes sat down around the table, the leader sitting at the very end. They began to eat the meat that was placed in front of them. They gobbled it up greedily and quickly. Max began to think about his life, about how Roger had always bullied him, how most of the wild animals tried to eat him, how all the hens didn't like him. But then he remembered how he had escaped from all of those dangers. He had left the chicken coop; he had dodged all the other animals' attempts to eat him. He looked around and thought, _I'll never escape from here. These are my last thoughts. I'll never see another sunset or sunrise._ He decided to give in. that little heartbeat he had always wanted to hear would soon be destroyed, being digested in a coyote's stomach. Then, all too soon, the coyotes finished eating and the leader spoke. "This meal was prepared very specially, and the chicken in the center, as you can see, is still alive. The reason is because he was very stubborn when we tried to cook him. So as his punishment, we shall eat him slowly, and let him scream in pain. So now that I have told you this, lets eat!" He picked Max up, and opened his mouth wide.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Max felt the searing pain of teeth ripping into his flesh. The pain! Blood and stuffing gushed out of Max's leg into the coyote's mouth. He screamed and squawked in anguish. Then he was passed to the next coyote, who then bit into Max's other leg. Max cried out in terror and pain! He didn't think pain like this was possible! The third coyote grabbed him and opened wide, then began to bite down on Max's belly. The coyote pressed his teeth harder and harder into the chicken, until Max was sure that his bloated stomach was going to pop open. He thought that this was the end, this was his death. But he was wrong. The sound of dogs and gunshots could be heard in the distance. The coyote dropped Max and sped out of there, as fast as his feet would take him. The rest of the pack ran out right behind him, leaving Max stunned on the ground. A little blood still spilled and some stuffing fell out, but he knew they would heal up soon. He glanced at his stomach and saw that no damage was done there, just some teeth marks. It was very quiet and still for a while as Max lay there, thinking about what had just happened."I thought I was going to die for sure," He said to no one. "I guess Maxamillion's time hasn't come just yet." "Don't be so sure," said a sneaky and smooth voice. A dark shadow glided across the wall. "I know that I am still hungry. But master would probably eat you first. Chicken is one of his favorite dishes. Especially when he doesn't have to do the cooking." Suddenly a female dog stood above Max. She grinned. "I'll probably get a special treat for finding you. Stay right here, I'm going to go get master." Then she ran off, laughing and barking. As soon as she was gone Max considered the two choices that he had. Stay here and get eaten, or try to escape and probably get eaten by some other animal later. Option 2 seemed like it would give him life for a little while longer, so he headed for the crack he had tried to escape through earlier. He squeezed his head, chest and wings through, but his belly had expanded since his last try. He made a mental note that if he survived he would sign up for an exercise program. He tried to push himself back into the coyote den, but he was stuck. He could not go forward or backward. Then he had an idea. It was gross, but hey, It was better than being dead. He began to spit. Yes, spit. All over himself. His objective was to make himself slippery so he could squeeze the rest of the way out of the hole. He began to feel a little slippery, and soon he was slippery enough to wiggle. Hesquirmed and wiggled and pushed until he popped free of the hole and landed face first on the ground. Painfully he dragged himself toward the nearby bushes. He was exhausted, but he kept going. He finally made that last stretch into the bushes and laid down, panting and gasping for air. He listened to the angry voices and excited barks as the dogs arrived with their master. "Just barely made it" he breathed before he fell asleep.

Max was woken by sharp pecks on his belly. He woke up to see two magpies trying to rip his soft tummy open. "Hey!" he yelled. "I'm not dead yet!" The magpies leaped with fright and flew away. Max examined himself. His legs were healing up fine, and the magpies hadn't done any damage. But he still looked like he belonged on a platter in a meat house, ready to be served to any hungry couple wanting a delicious delicacy. There was no doubt about it. Max licked himself and he could tell why all the other creatures wanted to eat him. He was extraordinarily good! Max sighed and looked around the bush. A certain stick interested him. He broke it off the bush and examined it. _This would do perfectly as a crutch, _he thought. _If only there was one more like it…_"Aha!" he exclaimed with victory as he saw another one lying on the ground. He grabbed it and used both crutches to stand up. "Perfect," he said. "Now I don't have to drag myself around. I can walk, and even run a little!" But his hopes fell when he thought of what he was going to do now that he was out of death's clutches. "I'm all alone, without food, no water, no feathers to keep me warm, and everything thinks that I taste good!" As he thought on this he stepped out from under the bush into the unsheltered area around the coyote den. He thought that the sun might help him think. He did not see the shadow flying above him.

As Max wandered away from the bush, thinking about what to do, he felt a breeze and something scratch his head. He looked up and saw a hawk, deadly talons stretched out, flying straight for him! Fright seized him and he hobbled along on his crutches as fast as he could go back toward the bush, wobbling around and sometimes veering off the path. The hawk was getting closer, and Max was running faster. He was running very fast and wasabout twenty feet away from the bush, when one of his crutches snapped under his weight. Max fell down and rolled away from his destination. He stopped himself from rolling and started pulling himself toward the bush. But the hawk saw his chance and grabbed Max, then flew up and away toward a lake with his easy dinner. Max struggled to break free, but the hawk wouldn't have it. He held onto Max tighter, talons squeezing the life out of Max. The hawk flew over a lake, almost killing The chicken by squeezing even tighter. But then, at the sound of a gunshot, the hawk's grip on him loosened. Max was free of the hawk, who was now dead, and headed right for the lake below. As they tumbled Max remembered the boiling pot of water and how he couldn't swim. It sure looked like that was going to be a painful hit too, because he was positioned for a belly flop. As he braced himself for the impact, another hawk caught caught his leg and soared away. But this hawk was smaller than the other, and Max's weight was too heavy for him. The hawk almost made it to shore, where he surely would have eaten Max as a tasty delicacy, but more gunshot's and Max's weight forced the hawk into dropping him into the water. Here Max was closer to shore, so he had more hope of escaping. He struggled to the lake's border and lay in the very shallow water, breathing hard. Then the hawk landed next to him. "If you think I'm giving up a fat, pre cooked dinner like yourself, then you're wrong." The hawk said. "Say you're last words, plumpy, I'm hungry, you taste good, you are already mostly dead, might as well fill up my belly. And since you're taking too long to choose your last words, I'll just eat you now." Then the hawk flew into the air, and dived toward Max. But he rolled out of the way right before the hawk hit him. The hawk took another dive at max, and he rolled away again. This time Max tried to make it to the water. It would probably be hard to get out of if he entered it, but it's impossible to escape the belly of a hawk, so Max wiggled on his back toward the lake. The hawk dived again, and Max rolled again, but the hawk had planned for this. He dived, and got a bull's-eye. So when Max finished rolling, he could see the little heart that had encouraged him to go this far. Now, no damage had been done that would kill Max, so long as he stayed laying down, and the cut was only a small one, right above his heart. But there was a hungry hawk in the area, and that meant that this cut would be fatal. As Max laid there, insides exposed, the hawk landed next to him. "I would eat you right here, but the farmer is near and that would make me the main course. So I guess you will live, until the farmer finds you." Then the hawk flew away. Max lay there panting, staring at the little muscle that was his heart. It was beating very quickly, like it was struggling. That was when Max saw the maggots. They were crawling toward his open wound. He brushed them off with a featherless wing, only to see the magpies from this morning standing a little ways away. Max decided then and there that death wouldn't reach him, that he would survive.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

Max laid there by the lake, trying to figure out what to do. He had a terrible wound, he was sitting out in the open, and the farmer would be there soon. Well, he thought. I probably should at least get under a bush, so no other hawks would find him. So, very ackwardly, he layed on his back, put his arms up behing his head, and began to pull himself toward the nearest bush. Every time his heart wobbled around he slowed down. Soon he was under the bush. He looked back at his heart and saw something peculiar. Flowing along his blood lines here and there were bits of stuffing. That puzzled him, for he did not know how the stuffing had entere his blood, but there was nothing he could do about it. Then he realized he was hungry and looked at his stomach, which was still bulging from how he had been stuffed when he had been with the coyotes. Even though he needed to cut back on eating, he pulled some berries of the bush and gulped them down. His hunger was not quenched, but he decided that was enough food. Max discovered he had never been so tired in his life, so he closed his eyes. He was just about to fall asleep when he heard the dogs barking.

Max woke up with a start, and began to panick. Dogs meant farmer. Farmer meant a funeral for Max. He looked around, but there was no way he could escape the dogs, especially in his condition. He sighed and gave up. he closed his eyes so he couldn't see his fate.

The Farmer saw that his dogs were getting excited. They had found something worth his while. Maybe. He gave them the signal, and they went off to go get the prey. He waited. And waited and waited and waited. And waited some more. Finally he saw his dogs running toward him. The two lead dogs were holding something small and brown. It was also covered in red blood. They continued toward him, until they were at his feet. The dogs dropped their prey. the farmer picked it up and saw that it was the chicken who had escaped him yesterday. he got exited and ran to his old truck, placed Max into a bag, and raced for home. When he arrived at his little old farmhouse, he barged through the door and showed his wife what he had caught. " We'll dine on chicken tonight, honey!" he said excitedly. She took the chicken from him and gave him a good look over. She looked at his exposed heart and saw it was still beating. Then she turned to the farmer with stern look on her face and said "How dare you suggest we eat him after all he has been through! We must take him to the vet!" The farmer was disapointed, but he did not want to upset his wife. So they piled into the truck with Max laying on the famer's wife's lap. Max opened one eye and smiled. He was going to make it.

"Well, Mr. Johnson," the nurse said to the farmer. "His condition is pretty severe. I'd say our best option would be to put him to sleep. His heart is very infected, and he has no feet or feathers. It would probably be best just to put him out of his misery." At this Max stiffened. He didn't want to be put to sleep! He leaped out of Mrs Johnson's arms and landed on the floor,wiggling as fast as he could toward the door while spilling blood everywhere. "Nurse," said the Mrs Johnson while scooping up Max "I don't think he's ready to be put to sleep. Can you at least try to help him? I've never seen anything so desperate to live." The nurse agreed to see what she could do, so she picked up Max and took him to the operating room, so the vet could do an operation.

When the operation was over, Max was put in a cage while the vet went to speak with Mrs Johnson about the results. "We stitched his wound back together," said the vet. "But it would be best if we put him to sleep. He has no feet to walk with, no feathers to keep him warm in the approaching winter, it is qute sad to watch him try to survive. Also, Mrs. Johnson, I have permission from the state to put an animal to sleep if it is in the condition that Max is in. So please don't waste time trying to argue about this animal's fate." with that the vet grabbed a needle from a drawer in his desk and headed for Max.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Max was actually feeling great right now. He had a full belly, water whenever he needed it, and he didn't even have to move. Then he saw the vet coming, and got excited. This was the person who had helped him get better. He stole a glance at his bare chest, seeing the four white stitches that held that area together. He looked back at the vet, but sensed something was wrong. The vet looked very solemn as he came toward Max's cage. In his pocket was a needle filled with something purple, and in his hand he was holding two black straps. He opened Max's cage and took him out by the neck, just like the farmer had a few days ago. Max started to get nervous when the vet strapped him down to a white operating table and took out the needle with purple liquid. "Sorry little guy," The vet said. "But this is your best option." Then he held it high, and stabbed Max with it. He didn't get the chance to empty it all into Max though, because an urgent call came up. The vet rushed out of the room, leaving the needle still injected into Max's chest, with almost of the purple stuff inside the horrified rooster. Max loosened a wing and plucked the needle out, feeling a little drowsy. Just a little of the serum could knock you out. But a lot could kill you. Max had way more than a little of the serum inside him, and that was bad. He looked around the operating room. There is almost always an antidote for every medicine, he thought. There was only one thing that could be the antidote, and that was a needle filled with a green serum. It was laying on the desk beside max's operating table. He wiggled out of the straps and made a grab for the serum. But it had been a while since he had been injected with the purple serum, and its effects were starting to work on him. Max was feeling very tired, and he fell on the needle. He was sooo tired. "No!" He yelled. "Must...stay...awaakkeee." Max was too tired to speak right, and way to tired to lift a wing. But he wouldn't have that! No way! No how...sooo tired. With a huge effort, He shifted his weight so he could feel the sharp needle sticking in him. Then he watched with tired eyes as the green serum slowly entered his body. After a minute, the needle was empty and Max felt better. He used the two needles as crutches and hobbled to the window.

When he looked outside he saw a weeping Mrs Johnson being comforted by her husband on her way to her car. Luckily cor Max, the window was wide open. This was a very careless vet. He jumped out of the window and landed with a painful thud on his stomach. Then he opened his mouth and cawedas loud as he could, and saw the Farmer's wife turn and look at him. A smile came to her face, and she raced over to him. Then she scooped Max up and cradled him like a baby to the truck.

Soon Max was in the farmer's house, enjoying the life of luxury.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Several months later, around Christmas, Max lay on Mr. Johnson's couch, watching TV. Max loved to watch TV. So many things you can learn! So many things you can see!

Max and Mr. Johnson were watching a cooking show. So far it had been good. They had learned how to make a delicious corn on the cob. But then they saw the commercial. It was an advertisement for the restaurant _The Fowl Foods. _The chef and owner appeared on the screen and said "Hello folks! My name is Chef Handlow, and this is my restaurant! Because of the season, we are offering these for half price!" The scene changed from Chef Handlow to a picture of… Cooked chicken on a silver platter outlined with vegetables. A fat, juicy, stuffing filled chicken. Max shuddered. It was easy to imagine himself on that platter. And as the months had passed instead of losing weight like he had wanted to he had gotten even fatter. Mrs. Johnson's corn on the cob was irresistible! The only difference between him and the chicken on TV was he still had his head. That chicken didn't. The chef continued speaking, "That's right, folks! We offer you our fattest, juiciest, best cooked chicken for half price! So come down to our restaurant and have yourself a merry, large dinner!" Then the TV turned off. "I don't want you to see any of that junk, Max." said the farmer. "It will just give you nightmares. However, it makes _my _mouth water. Honey, I want to treat you to dinner at _The Fowl Foods!" _Mr. Johnson called. C'mon, let's go!

Soon they arrived at the restaurant. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson quickly left the old pickup and entered _The Fowl Foods. _Max stared at the building and gulped. Places like this haunted every chicken, turkey, duck and other game fowl every night in their dreams. Then he saw a truck with a trailer attached with the words Chicken feed painted on the side. Max listened to his growling stomach and decided that some food right now wouldn't be half bad. So he wiggled through an open window, landed with a loud and painful plop, and began to make his way to the truck. Finally, he arrived. While he was thinking of how to get in, a skinny man in overalls approached him and asked "How did you get out?" Then he picked Max up, opened the trailer's door, and threw Max into a truck full of not feed, but chickens. Then It clicked. Max realized that this was not a truck full of chicken feed, but a truck full of chickens for people feed!

The truck door opened, and a big man named Dave reached inside. He grabbed Max and three of the others. "Mr. Handlow! I got your chicken dinners! Four of 'em and one of them is a real fatty!" "Put them in the machine," said Chef Handlow. So with a shrug Dave threw Max and the three others into the machine. "Bye bye chickens," said Dave with a grin. Then they were placed on a conveyor belt that that led to a machine. Hmm, serious day-ja-vu. As they went through, Max first, the other chickens went through the same experience Max had had with the coyotes. Soon their screams of agony were deafening. Then Max saw that what was different from the coyotes and the restaurant was there were two new stations. And, since he was first, he had the unfortunate honor of testing them out. The first station had several small knives attached to several small arms. He soon found out what they did. They sliced small layers of skin that was quickly cooked over a fire and dipped into grease till they were a glassy brown. The pain was terrible torture, because the knives slowly cut off layers of skin so the pain lasted longer. Soon his skin was so thin he thought that if someone held anything sharp even close to him he would pop. Then Max was put on a platter, and his skin peelings were placed around him neatly. A bucket lowered and poured out cranberry sauce. That was the second new stage. Max sneezed. He was allergic to cranberries. He turned his head to see the other roosters looking almost exactly like him, except one had black feathers around his face, one had brown, and one still had a handsome and charming face. But they all were naked, frightened, covered in cranberry sauce, on platters, steaming hot, fat, and footless. He looked back ahead expecting to see a frying pan, but instead he saw a huge, gleaming knife. He knew what that knife was for. He placed a bald wing on his throat, and gulped. He quickly rolled aside, just in time to miss being hit by the knife. It lightly scraped part of his neck, and then rocketed back up into the ceiling. Then he saw the chicken with the handsome face. He was the next one in line. He lay flat against his platter, sweating like a maniac as the knife lowered back down from the roof of the machine. Max knew he had to do something, but if he did, it might be him served on a platter. "Oh well," he said to himself. "Gotta do the right thing." Then he wiggled over to the rooster in need and pushed him out of harm's way, then rolled over to the surprised chicken. "Why did you help me?" Handsome-face asked. "Nobody helps anybody where I come from. That's how I ended up here." Max smiled and replied "I'm not from you come from, apparently. Now, if you will excuse me, I have urgent business elsewhere." Then Max launched himself back onto the conveyor belt and pushed the frightened black rooster out of the way. The brown rooster, however, had a sticky situation. His cranberry sauce was a bit stickier than the stuff on the other roosters. Or maybe there was just more of it on him than the other roosters. Whatever the cause or reason, this guy was sticky enough to stick to his platter. The brown rooster was beginning to get nervous as he realized he was stuck and the knife was close. Max began to push the frightened chicken, but it was useless. The big lug was almost glued. Then Max had an idea. He began to push the entire platter _toward _the big knife, as fast as he could go. The brown rooster panicked and began to scream "Don't push me toward the knife! Get me away! Aahh!"The rooster closed his eyes, and began to whimper. Max sighed. The big chicken didn't know that he was trying to help him, not kill him. Max continued to push until the knife was right above him and coming down. Then Max rolled out of the way and the knife hit the conveyor belt instead of flesh. Max turned and looked to see the brown rooster opening his eyes and letting out a long sigh of relief. Max and the other roosters scrambled over to him and began to pull the platter of the conveyor belt onto one of the non-moving parts of the machine. Once there, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Finally the handsome dude spoke. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. Mine's Chad. Thanks for saving my tail feathers, bud." 'My name is Maxamillion, Max for short," said Max. "And it was my pleasure. I have been in a situation like this before, and I know how it feels to go through alone." "Ah, ok Max," said the black rooster. "My name is Martin. Glad to meet you. Really, really glad." Then the brown rooster, still glued to the platter by cranberry sauce, spoke. "My name is Andy, and I can't thank you enough for saving me out there. I have to admit, I thought you were trying to put an end to me for a moment there." He chuckled and continued. "But it was the complete opposite. Sorry I doubted you, Max." "That's alright," said Max. "But I see you are still in need of help. Hey Chad, Martin, can you help me get him free? Don't want him to have to spend the rest of his days on a silver platter covered in crushed cranberries." The others agreed to help free Andy, and together they pried the gooey rooster free.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Max and the others had pried Andy free, but now they had new dilemmas. They were still stuck in the chicken death machine, with no safe way out, and Andy needed a shower or a wash or something so he didn't stick to everything he touched. And then what? Mr. Johnson probably wasn't willing to have four almost dead roosters in his house. Well, Max thought. I know one way out. It definitely wasn't the safest way out, but it was their only way. "Andy, Martin, Chad, push your platters back onto the conveyor belt and lay back down on them." When all three of the chicken's mouths dropped open with surprise, max added "Don't worry, I got a plan. We lay on the platters and are served to the people waiting out in the dining area, somehow escape from them, and make a beeline for the door." Their mouths dropped even wider. "Come on, guys! It's our only hope!" They looked at each other, closed their mouths, and got back on their platters. "This plan already smells of failure," said Andy. But they went to the end of the conveyor belt and their platters were covered. A waiter took them all out, and placed them each on separate tables. Then they were uncovered. Everyone stared. Max froze. Then the people began screaming "It's still alive! It's still alive!" They panicked and began to run away. Soon Max heard the screaming of other people and smiled. This was going to be really easy. Then he heard a scream that was all too familiar. The scream of a chicken. He followed the sound and came to Andy, who was lying on the floor and sobbing very loudly. Lying next to him was his own right wing. It was no longer attached to his body. Max's heart was filled with sadness. "I knew it wouldn't work!" Andy wailed. "I'm gonna die!" That may be true, Max realized. Lots of blood was flowing from Andy's shoulder. But Max was determined not to lose one of his three new friends. "Stay right here," Max ordered Andy while pushing him under a table. "I'll go get the others." Then Max wiggled off. It was easy to find Martin and Chad; all he had to do was follow the screams. He quickly brought them to Andy, who was already unconscious from loss of blood. Max and Martin quickly grabbed some things that would help Andy's wound. Max grabbed a glass of water from the table and poured it on Andy's shoulder. Then Martin grabbed a napkin that had fallen on the floor and wrapped it around Andy's left wing and what was left of his right. Slowly the blood stopped coming out. Max splashed some water on Andy's face to wake him up, and then Chad and Martin grabbed both sides of him while Max pushed from behind. Together they made it to the door. But it wasn't that easy. They couldn't exactly reach the door knob, and Chef Handlow was coming out of his kitchen to see what was going on. When he saw the four chickens with their heads still attached to their bodies, his mouth opened wide. He rushed back into the kitchen and a few seconds later came back out with Dave, who had a large knife in each hand. Max watched as Andy's strength grow back, and the horror on his face. Max looked back at the approaching Dave, who was grinning like a maniac and saying "Here little chickens! Come here!" Max gulped and looked around for a way out of there, when he noticed Andy was missing! Then Dave was upon them, and he quickly scooped up the trio and stormed back to the kitchen and put them back on the machine, wrapped tightly by rope that cut their skin onto the platters. They went through most of the stages without any harm being done; but Max was worried about the knife. It's kind of hard to roll out of the way of a giant knife when you're tied tightly to a silver platter and covered in stick cranberry sauce that makes you sneeze. Max looked at the knife, wondering why he had ever left the safety of the truck just to get some chicken feed that didn't exist. The knife slowly came down, and Max gulped. It came closer and closer, and Max realized he wasn't gonna make it out of this one. The knife came closer and closer, and it began to penetrate his skin. A red line appeared, and small streams of blood started coming out. Max heard Chad call "Noo!" The knife cut deeper and deeper. Soon Max's whole neck was red from blood. He began gasping, for the loss of blood was making it hard for him to breathe, and he was getting very hot. Suddenly he realized that the knife had stopped cutting! It was frozen. Then Martin cried "Andy!" Max looked up to see the naked, footless, one-winged rooster doing his best to stand on the side of the conveyor belt. Behind him were a tangle of gears, stopped from moving because sticky cranberry sauce was stuck in-between them! Andy grinned at Max and said "You saved me once, now I'm returning the favor." Max smiled as Andy approached him and struggled with his one wing to free Max. "I'm sorry max" said Andy. "I can't seem to untangle you." Max said "That's alright Andy. If you can get this knife out of my throat and pull me away from it, I will be fine." So, ever so carefully, Andy pulled the knife out of Max' throat, and as soon as he did Max could breathe easier. He felt his throat with a wing and found out that the cut wasn't very deep. The reason he had a hard time breathing was because the knife had been pressing down really hard and it had been like when Mr. Johnson and Dave had grabbed and squeezed his neck. All the knife had done was create a little cut. But here they were, back in the situation they had been in before, trapped inside the machine of death and horror.


	9. Chapter 9

As Andy pulled Max away from the knife, He kept wondering how they could make it out of this predicament. Dave was probably on the lookout for them. "Well," he thought to himself. "I guess we should at least try to free ourselves. He told Andy to go free Martin, who was the smallest of the four and would be the easiest to loosen from his ropes. "If you can get him untangled, maybe he can help you untie Chad and I." Max told Andy. So Andy wiggled and shimmied over to Martin's platter. 10 minutes later Martin, Chad and Andy freed Max of his own platter. Just as they were freed, the conveyor belt started up again! They quickly made it over to the side of the conveyor belt where they would be safe…er. Max glanced over at the gears and saw why the machine had started working again. All the cranberry sauce that had been sticking the gears together had dribbled off. He looked back at the conveyor belt and, to his utter horror, saw other chickens on it. All four of them watched as the chickens began to come down the belt toward the blood-stained knife. He looked at the one closest to it and saw that it was a rooster. He was very frightened and moaning in pain from the loss of his feet. Max watched as the rooster stopped under the knife. Quickly the four of them pushed his platter out of the way. It was easier now because there were four of them. But they couldn't keep this up. There were many more chickens on their way down the belt, and there wasn't an endless amount of non-moving space. He decided that a plan needed to be made. Quickly he gathered the others around him. He told Andy and Martin to go free the chickens already on the safe, non-moving sides of the conveyor belt while he and Chad pushed the other chickens away from the knife. The team agreed and went to work. While Max and Chad worked on pushing a hen out of the way of the knife, Martin and Andy started untying The rooster, who had told them his name was Nathan. Nathan was kind-of muscular, not exactly one of those guys who is all muscle, but he was pretty strong. Once Martin and Andy had untied Most of the ropes, he snapped the rest in half. "Thanks, guys," he said. "I'm pretty sure I would have been people food if you hadn't saved me. What are your names?" Martin pointed at himself. "I'm Martin," He said. "That's Andy, the one with only one wing and brown feathers on his head. And over there pushing the hen to the side are Chad, the tall one, and Max. Max rescued us from the knife a few hours ago." Nathan looked over at Max and Chad struggling to push the hen away from the knife. Chad and the hen were out of the knifes way, but Max wasn't safe yet. And the knife was getting awfully close. "Looks like they could use some help," said Nathan. He made his way over to them and helped push the hen the rest of the way. Max was now safe. But Nathan was not. He had tripped, (hard to walk with no feet.) and fallen on his stomach. So when the knife came down, it cut him in half. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" Nathan yelled with a blood curdling scream that made everyone's stomachs turn. His legs and lower belly moved on down the belt until they reached the chef. He put them on a platter and said "Mm, Drumsticks."

Nathan kept moving on down the conveyor belt. He was too pained to do anything about it. Max ran after him, right up to the end of the belt. Right in front of Chef Handlow.

Handlow stared at the two chickens. One was without feet. The other one was holding on to the footless one. The chef stared at them, anger in his eyes. He turned to Dave. "These chickens refuse to be cooked," He said. "I am through butchering chickens. Send them to the factory. I don't care that some of these chickens are roosters or that they weren't raised at the factory, or that some of them are half cooked. I want them butchered, NOW!" Dave knew that voice. It meant he could be fired if he didn't obey. Without a word he took off the lid of the butchering machine and gathered all the chickens inside it. (About 30.) All were in the same state. Footless, featherless, covered in cranberry sauce, and all very frightened. He grabbed Max, Andy, Chad, Nathan and Martin and took them back out to the truck. Inside there were about fifty more chickens. "Man," muttered Dave. "How many customers are we expecting?" he placed them down inside the truck, shut the trailer doors, and went back in for more. All the chickens knew this was the end. Andy took off the napkin that had covered his bleeding arm and inspected the stump. He was no longer bleeding. He walked/wiggled over to Nathan and wrapped it around what was left of his waist. "Let's see if that will calm down the bleeding" said Andy. Nathan smiled. Even in their last minutes, he had made friends.


End file.
